The Barnstorming Tour, which is run annually by Criss Beyers, has likely seen its last stop. According to our friend Chris Korman of the H-T/Hoosier Scoop, the NCAA has advised the Big Ten to not allow the tour to take place.

Criss Beyers, a local AAU coach who has run the tours for six years, learned late yesterday that the NCAA has “strongly advised” the Big Ten not to allow the annual tour to continue. Beyers said that the NCAA has had questions about the tour in recent years but has always ultimately declared it to be acceptable. Beyers wasn’t sure what precipitated the NCAA’s altered outlook on the tour.

Not much else to say about this. IU is at the mercy of the NCAA overlords until their punishment is announced. My personal take is that it’s a harmless event that gives fans across the state an opportunity to see the incoming players, but given the current climate in Bloomington, the NCAA will get its wish and the event will cease to exist. Bummer.

Someone in my office got sick this morning and hurled on their Reebok's. I immediately thought of Kelvin Sampson after I heard about it.

I am wondering, I heard a rumor that Scott Skiles (Plymouth Indiana High School graduate) really wanted to come to IU but of course Bobby didn't want anyone that would question his Godliness. Yes, he missed out on about 100 great recruits because he was, well, The General. (see Bird, Larry – Montross, Eric – Robinson, Glen)

For those of you that are not old enough to remember Skiles at Michigan State, he was a one-man wrecking crew. In his four year career he averaged 18 points a game. He averaged 27.4 ppg and 7 assists as a senior. Furthermore, he was 5 feet nothing and was almost completely bald before he graduated college. The kid had no athleticism to the point is was hilarious. He was so competetive it outweighed his lack of everything physical.

The thing about Skiles is the guy talked more trash per pound than anyone in the history of Indiana High School basketball and yes it carried into college. (BTW, the Bird Man was quite the talker too) Anyway, MSU stunk so he got little recognition but the guy would flat out hit a 30 footer in your face and tell you about it when back-peddling on D.

My point is, I'm not sure the guy ever recovered from Bobby's snub. Is there a connection here with the Sampson hire in Milwaukee? The way this soap opera has gone I wouldn't be surprised.

05hoosier

Ok, so you named three recruits…..who were the other 97? Bashing Sampson I get, dissatisfaction toward Davis I get, but bad-mouthing a coach who won three titles? That doesn't make sense at all. The Bob Knight era ended, whether you loved him or hated him, dwelling on his ability to recruit is useless. However, since you decided to rant about the recruits he didn't get, let me leave you with a few names: Scott May, Kent Benson, Isiah Thomas, Damon Bailey, Calbert Chaney, Steve Alford, Brian Evans, Alan Henderson, Jared Jeffries, I could keep going…..

I'm not sure where to begin with this one. First of all, every coach misses out on recruits. Skiles was considered something of a problem child. Montross went somewhere else, which happens. Robinson was a non-qualifier, and Knight took only one of those (George Leach, who IU mistakenly believed to be qualified) in his last 25 years at IU. Knight didn't “miss” on Larry Bird. Larry Bird enrolled at IU and left before practice started because he didn't like the “big town.”

Even if Skiles has some sort of a grudge against Knight, what in the world does that have to do with hiring Sampson? Sampson is well-qualified for the job. If it weren't for the NCAA scandal he would be over-qualified for the job. Rather than create an elaborate conspiracy theory, why not consider that Sampson and Skiles have a common mentor: Jud Heathcoate.

B_MD

I don't even know what to say. What does this have to do with anything as it relates to this site, this post or IU basketball at the current moment?

So Scott Skiles went to MSU and now coaches the Bucks…Who cares? NBA teams don't let their coaches hire assistants out of spite to a college that didn't recruit them 25 years ago.

HoosierSmitty

It just keeps getting worse, somehow, someway, the clouds continue to get darker and rain keeps falling. Bummer indeed.

ALH_00

How does the NCAA have any say? I don't know alot about the “barnstorming”, but it seems to me like it's a bunch of high-school kids (and JC transfers) getting together to play basketball prior to officially enrolling at IU. (please correct me if I'm wrong). I'm not saying they should ignore the NCAA, and suspect that they will abide by the NCAA's wishes. But, where is the NCAA's jurisdiction over this series of events?

As a reasonable fan (I think), I've just about had enough NCAA beat-downs. The more shit they put on IU, the more respect I lose for the institution. It seems ever-more crazy that they are intent on further destruction of a program for some phone calls when it does not appear that they are doing anything about the “competitive advantage” that other schools are utilizing (outside the direct role of the university, of course). This is more than an investigation/disciplinary process…it's a friggin witch-hunt!

A march on Indy may be in order…leave our school alone.

msdiu81

Yes, I would have wanted Skiles to come to IU and bring his arrest record too. Let's see, was it pot and drinking? Just the character Knight tended to recruit, not. Also, I'm sure Knight loved trash talkers too. Sorry, but I don't find anything related to the barnstorming tour in this post and can't figure out the relevance. I don't care if Skiles never played at IU and in retrospect, I'm glad he didn't come.

B_MD

To be fair though, wasn't it a little weird that Ray McCallum, Jr. played for IU last year in the barnstorming tour? I know he was an assistant coaches son, but he's also a top recruit in the country. I cans ee how that is viewed strangely by the NCAA.

With that said, if other schools do these tours, then it shouldn't be an issue.

ALH_00

o.k…I understand that it seems odd…but why make a big deal out of it now. IU just announced the schedule for “barnstorming” and the NCAA immediately comes out and says, “no barnstorming”. Coincidence?

This just adds fuel to my already substantial fire regarding the NCAA's selective enforcement of its rules.

I get it…IU cheated…but let the punishment fit the crime. What “competitive advantage” did IU get through the illegal phone calls? It was little, if any, as I recall from the names of recruits contained in the allegations. What has IU lost as a result? Quite a bit for sure!

I live in the Pacific Northwest. It rains here a HELL of alot. The NCAA rains hell on IU. I hope Big A and all other Indiana bball bloggers beware that your web sites don't come under attack next. The uber NCAA storm troopers have their watchers on the internet.

B_MD

I agree. I actually posted the below on Hoosier Scoop about two hours ago:

I’m just absolutely stunned that IU is going through all of this and yet USC’s basketball and football programs, FSU’s football program and Kansas State’s basketball program get to operate as normal.

Aren’t acedemic scandals, paying recruits and current players and moving a recruits family half way across the country and getting the mom a cushy job way worse than phone calls?

I’m not saying Sampson/IU should be off the hook, I’m saying what these other programs have done is far worse, in my opinion, and they are off scott free.

JerryCT

Whether the TOUR is questionable or not under the NCAA rules it seems to me that they should be spending their time on serious offenses regarding other schools already mentioned. They must be over staffed or we have become an easy target.

Its time for IU to fight back hard against the TOUR ban and the new NCAA charges such that they think twice in the future about railroading IU, just as they fear tangling w FSU or USC.

tberry

THE BARNSTORMING TOUR IS EITHER OK OR NOT. IF IT WAS OK BEFORE, IT IS NOW. IF IT IS NOT OK NOW THEN IT WASN'T IN THE PAST.

THIS SELECTIVE NCAA HARASSMENT OF THE IU PROGRAM SHOULD RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE HONESTY AND INTEGRITY OF THE NCAA FROM EVERY SANE PERSON AND ORGANIZATION.

What the NCAA needs is a little investigation of their own, like Congressional Investigation.

Kelin Blab

Wow……..This just keeps getting worse. I already braced myself for a ban for this year and now the barnstorming tour. Well, I have been putting this off for a long time but I am going to officially email or write a nice letter to KS. This is a bunch of BS and for one man to do this to a program is absolutely horrible.

I won't even get into the IU vs. USC stuff. This really really sucks………

flhoosier

I think what you all are overlooking is there is something the NCAA has on IU we probably don't know. and now IU is not getting the benefit of the doubt on anything. Think about it. Basically, they believed a convicted cheater in Sampson that IU did not monitor the program. That is like a jury believing a convicted felon(not saying what Sampson did was a crime) at trial, and as a lawyer I can tell you there usually needs to be overwhelming evidence the felon is telling the truth before he is believed. I'm pretty sure IU is going to get worse than scholarship losses, I would say a possible two year post season ban, not that we would make the post season the next two years anyway.

Another problem is the ass backwords way this program goes about things. During this investigation did anyone think to look at Greenspan and if they did and found something he should have been fired. I highly doubt he is resigning of his own accord, and if he is then the adminstration should have found out he was thinking about it before letting him hire Crean, because we have no shot of getting a good A.D. with sanctions coming in the only spotlight sport at the school (besides soccer which makes the school no money), and a coach already in place at the only spotlight sport. Greenspan should have been fired or forced to resign and let the new A.D. make the hire, atleast then we could have gotten a quality A.D. With the contract Crean signed we are married to him and he is married to us. I'm not saying this is a good or bad thing, time will tell, only that an A.D. wants to make the hires and he won't get the chance at IU in basketball the only sport that really matters. The only thing the new A.D. can do is fire Lynch and hire another football coach at some point to hopefully go 6-5 and make a bowl game. Does that sort of job intrigue you? Didn't think so.

HoosierSmitty

F~(k you NCAA.

Seriously…

Does this all imply that the NCAA believes IU tried to cover up Sampson's lies and then turn around and try to make it look like they gave it their best effort to stop him?

JerryCT

Caps mean he is yelling. Sometimes its good to yell

JerryCT

Sorry Flhoosier. I read the entire NCAA report. It is very detailed with dates, length of call, by player etc. The theory that there is more dirt not detailed in their report that they are holding back and then acting on it is a bit paranoid and bascially charges the NCAA with lying or contriving an unethical process.

To me it is more likely that the NCAA takes the view that Sampson cannot be expected to monitor himself or his staff . Therefore the entire monitoring issue falls on the ADept staff. They further believe their own “puffing” of the statistics like counting “placed” calls less than 2minutes ( vs their usual interpetation ) and count the Morris twins as one player. When we reacted with weakness , unlike USC, they took the chance to show the world how tough they are.

I take the view that KS should have been the first to know and the one who should most want to know if rules were broken………after all, this was HIS sanction.

Exactly how does IU monitor passing the phone, or 3 way calls or detect false log entries ?

Also keep in min das I have said before of the 116 calls I counted , 50% were to 2 players and 74 calls were less than 2minutes and likey were no contacts made. If you take out other calls longer than 2 minutes but within a 20 minute window you get even fewer issues but the NCAA chooses to look at it in the worst possible light for IU

oldfan

A new Ad is going to be a tough hire. I think It would have to come from the IU family,someone that cares deeply about IU like a Jerry Yeagley. Iam I far off base Big Al?

RobertSchell

I think Myles Brand's childhood hero growing up was Burgermeister Meisterburger from “Santa Claus is Comin' to Town”…he certainly has the “no fun for anyone” part down….

Kelin Blab

I would not mind seeing Dak as the new AD or Reynolds, even though he worked under Greeny, can't hold him accountible for this mess.

Sorry guys and gals….this barnstorming thing has really bummed me out, as if the IU tradtions haven't changed enough, don't be surprised Midnight madness is cancelled and IU is forced to get rid of the candy stripes.

what more could happen to this program and team? Although a post season ban this year won't matter much, I just don't want that cloud nor do I want anymore scholly's taken.

I got news for you John, when you have Larry Bird on campus, and he ends up somewhere else, you missed bro.

This guy almost knocked out Magic in the NCAA final when he had no support. I was less interested in pointing out Knight had recruiting issues than I was the Skiles hiring of Sampson.

HoosierSmitty

I just worry that if it continues to go downhill like this, even the recruits we have now or are close to getting are going to leave/not come…who knows what they thought was going to happen to the team, but this might be worst case scenario now, and who knows if they were prepared for that.

tberry

No any AD hire does not have to come from IU. Just like any coach we hired does not have to come from IU. For some reason many think that being an IU grad or one of “Bobby's Boys” automatically make a person great at everything. It doesn't.

No matter what position IU hires for they should be looking to hire a person that has the best history of past success. Mediocrity breeds mediocrity and success breeds success.

Do other schools not do the equivalent of a barnstorming tour? I always just assumed this was common practice in any state where they give a crap about basketball.

RobertSchell

Skiles' DUI came while he was at Michigan State.

Not many big-name schools showed much interest in Skiles until after the state championship game…Keady's assistants told him to look at other schools, and Digger Phelps didn't show much attention either. I think Bobby showed interest in Skiles but ultimately looked elsewhere due to different reasons.

Not sure how it all relates to the Sampson hire, but yes, Skiles was always cocky. I've heard when MSU visited Skiles' house to talk with his dad about Scott's time at MSU, they told his dad that Scott wouldn't start many games/receive much playing time his freshman year -So Scott yelled from the kitchen – “The hell I won't!”

B_MD

Exactly tberry. I'm totally with you. I don't care what the position, find the best available candidate no matter where they're from.

Kelin Blab

Big A or anyone…..

If IU loses more scholarships does that mean the incoming kids that have committed cannot come? How does that work?

My problem: while MB (and his band of wretched lemmings) are patting themselves on the back for “restoring order to collegiate athletics”, I would bet not more than 5 teams in the top 25 in CFB graduated more than 50% of their black athletes. Meanwhile, the next Mens' BBall star and his family are currently packing up for a new life (house, job, car) 1000 miles away from home…”Collegiate Athletics” at work…and all o.k. with the NCAA!

I believe. Yes i really do. There is a conspsiracy against my beloved IU bball program. SOMEONE at the NCAA seems to have a bias against us so large it DEMANDS investigation by the legislature or congress or someone. Time to prod our local politicians ( they live for posturing anyway).

I believe. Yes i really do. There is a conspsiracy against my beloved IU bball program. SOMEONE at the NCAA seems to have a bias against us so large it DEMANDS investigation by the legislature or congress or someone. Time to prod our local politicians ( they live for posturing anyway).